Chapter 22: My Mortality
About half an hour later, Shadow woke up once more, now realizing that he had cried himself back to sleep. Casew was laying at the foot of his bed, her ears pricked forward towards the curtain separating him and Sonic. Only then did he notice the voices coming from behind the curtain.
"Oh, this is just awful!" Cried an unmistakable squeally female voice. "Oh Sonic, why did you have to agree to this trip?!"
"It's not his fault, Amy," A young male voice countered. "Sonic was only trying to help."
"Yeah, and look where it's gotten him." Huffed a rougher male voice, almost as rough as Shadow himself. "I swear, this hedgehog doesn't know how to take care of himself."
"But he wasn't alone, remember?" Reminded another nervous young male voice. "Shadow was with him too."
"Right, and now they're both equally hurt." Agreed a female voice filled with authority.
"Oh please, as if that makes a difference." Shadow could practically HEAR Amy's eyes roll. "He's the Ultimate Lifeform AND immortal. He easily could've done the mission on his own."
"Do you really think that, Amy?" Rouge's voice huffed. "You saw the findings of the Devil Dragon they wrote on their map. You saw how big and deadly they said it was. Do you really think he could've handled it on his own?"
"Well… maybe they were just exaggerations."
By this time, Shadow's had enough of them talking as if he wasn't there, which to be fair, he really wasn't when he was asleep, and they don't know that he's awake now.
"Guys?" He called hoarsely, his throat still dry from the weeks of dehydration and the added crying before.
The curtain moved and from behind it a young face of a fox poked out.
"He's awake!" Tails called to the others. "Shadow's awake!"
"Shadow…" A dark voice growled as Amy pushed past the fox, her jade eyes enraged.
Shadow gulped with wide eyes as Amy's Piko Piko Hammer made an appearance into her hand. But as she stalked forward, Shadow knew that he deserved whatever he was about to get from the enraged female. It was his fault he and Sonic were like this anyway.
"You MORON!" Amy yelled in rage, keeping a tight grip onto her hammer. "How could you let this happen to Sonic?! I know you hate him and all, but I didn't think you'd stoop so low!"
Now at that accusation, Shadow felt like he had to defend himself. After all, he loved Sonic, not hated him.
"Now wait just a second," He growled. "I may have hated Sonic in the past, but that's not the way I feel about him now!"
"What are you talking about?" Knuckles frowned in confusion as he and the others joined them.
At this, Shadow's ears fell flat against his head and he looked down in shame. How in the world was he supposed to explain to them that he and Sonic had fallen in love? Especially when the one female who has claimed to love Sonic forever was standing in the very same room with him, her eyes searching for the perfect moment to strike with her hammer, just waiting for him to say the wrong thing. Oh, she was gonna kill him, he knew it.
Still, not any less than he deserves.
"I… I…" He stuttered, finding it difficult just to say the words. Why was it so difficult?
"It's alright, Shadow." Rouge came over to his side, laying a comforting hand on top of his. "Just tell us what's on your mind."
"I… I… love him… ok?"
The room was silent at Shadow's announcement, the seriousness of it slowly seeping into their minds.
"What did you say?" Amy frowned, sure that she had heard incorrectly.
"I said I love him, ok!" Shadow shouted in shame and sadness, tears once again filling his eyes. "I love Sonic the Hedgehog and I let him get hurt! I promised him! I promised him that I wasn't gonna let anything happen to him! He trusted me and I broke that trust! I'm a terrible person! I'm a terrible boyfriend!"
And then, all at once, the dam finally broke and Shadow's real emotions pushed through in one great big wave.
Emotions he had held back for way too long, ever since Maria had died.
Shadow cried and sobbed, high pitched wails coming from his mouth as the tears flowed freely down his cheeks, soaking his face and the bedsheets. He hiccuped and whimpered, and the more he tried to wipe his tears away, the more he seemed to cry.
The others were completely shocked by this, never before ever seeing the usually stuck up ebony hedgehog wail like this, rather than cry at all. It broke their hearts as they all watched on, coming to realize that his feelings for Sonic were real.
What had happened during the last three weeks?
Casew, being a dog, knew exactly what to do in this kind of situation. With a small whine, she stood up from the floor and, despite the rules this smart dog knew of, she jumped up onto the bed and curled up to Shadow's lap, lifting her muzzle to feverishly lick away the hedgehog's salty tears of anguish and self-hatred.
Slowly, Shadow began to calm down to Casew's comfort, as well as the comfort of Rouge who had started to hug him the moment he started bawling.
"Thank you *hic* Rouge." He hiccuped, his eyes bloodshot red as he gently petted Casew's head. "Good *hic* girl, Casew."
"You really love him that much, do you?" Amy sighed, her hammer disappearing.
"With all *hic* my heart." Shadow whimpered. "I don't know *hic* how it happened. It *hic* just did. *hic*"
Shadow sighed and looked back up to his friends, his eyes still sad and glossy.
"Look, you can *hic* hate me all *hic* you want. But I stand by *hic* what I say. *hic* I love him, *hic* and that's not gonna change. *hic*"
"Shadow, nobody's gonna hate you just because you found love with Sonic." Blaze sighed. "But you have to stop blaming yourself. This is not your fault."
"But it is. *hic*" Shadow whimpered as new tears filled his eyes, but before they could fall, Casew licked them away, making Shadow cringe when her tongue accidently touched his eye. "Down Casew."
Casew whined and laid her head back onto his lap, slowing wagging her tail side to side, looking up at him with her brown eyes to show that she was listening and was ready to comfort when he wanted it.
"Why do you think it's your fault?" Silver curiously asked.
"... Because I'm the reason we *hic* got lost in the first *hic* place." Shadow sighed. "We lost everything, *hic* because of me."
"Do you wanna do something about those hiccups before you tell us what you mean?" Tails gently asked.
"No, *hic*" Shadow shook his head. "It's less than *hic* what I deserve. *hic* I need to *hic* punish myself *hic* somehow."
"... you don't… need to punish… yourself… at all."
A faint whisper of a muffled voice made itself known in the quiet room.
With collective gasps, everybody turned their heads over to Sonic's bed, shocked and delighted when they saw him looking at them with tired eyes.
"S-Son*hic*nic?" Shadow called breathlessly.
"don't… punish… yourself… Shads…" Sonic said breathlessly, his voice being gurgled and muffled by the breathing tube stuck in his throat, the feeding tube already gone before. "it's not… your fault."
"But it *hic* is." Shadow sobbed. "I'm the reason *hic* we lost everything *hic* in the rapids. *hic* I'm the reason *hic* we got pulled back. *hic* You wanted to pull away *hic* more, but I said *hic* no. It's my fault. *hic* It's my fault. *hic*"
"you couldn't… have known…" Sonic shook his head. "even if… we pulled away… from the rapids… more… there was still… a chance… this would… happen."
"I doubt *hic* that." Shadow shook his head. "You should *hic* rest. You shouldn't *hic* strain yourself."
A sudden sadness filled Sonic's eyes, and everyone in the room except Shadow suddenly realized what was going on.
"oh, I will rest… soon." He sighed. "but first… there is something… I want… to say."
"Anything Sonic." Rouge encouraged. "What is it?"
"shadow… you have… to stop… blaming… yourself… I won't… tolerate… it… things happen… things… we can't… explain."
"... But…" Shadow started, but Sonic cut him off.
"no buts… shadow… I can't stand it… watching you… blame yourself… for something… out of your… control." Sonic sighed. His eyes were getting sleepy again, and he knew he had to wrap this up quick. "shadow… look at me."
Hesitantly, Shadow lifted his head and stared into the emerald eyes he loved so much. Love and sadness filled those eyes, and a sense of peace as well.
"shadow… I love you…" Sonic said, surprising Shadow and their friends. "I love you… so much… and I always will… never forget that, shadow… never forget that."
And then, at last, Sonic's eyes closed once more, as if he was going into a peaceful sleep.
All but Shadow cried at the sight, which only confused the obsidian and crimson hedgehog. Even Casew sat up and let out a loud mournful howl, despite not really knowing Sonic, but knew he was important to her master.
"What's going on?" Shadow frowned in confusion. "You all act like he's dead."
"Shadow…" Blaze started, but never got to finish.
At that moment, Sonic's vitals started going haywire, creating loud beeps and drone out notes. Sonic's body started to convulse, shaking the entire bed frame he laid in.
Shadow watched in pain and panic.
Sonic was having another seizure.
"Everyone out, now!"
Suddenly, three doctors came into the room and pushed their way through to the cobalt hedgehog, hoping that they'll be able to do everything they can to save him.
"Vitals are going absolutely haywire." One of the doctors, her nametag said Zoe on it, said to one of the males, who's tag said Dylan on it. "His body is rejecting the insulin for the Malaria."
"Doctor, what's going on?" Amy asked in a panic.
"Rates are climbing to 170." Dylan frowned, ignoring Amy's pleas. "He's going into VT, prepare for cardiac. I need 3 milligrams of midazolam, now."
"What's happening?" Rouge asked calmly as the black doctor ran to get the medicine.
"His heart is racing," Dylan explained to her. "We're going to sedate him and then shock him."
At that moment, the other doctor came back.
"I got the midazolam." He announced, giving it to Dylan.
"Wonderful." Dylan took the syringe and plunged the needle into Sonic's skin.
"Preparing charge for 100 synchronized shock." Zoe announced, holding the defibulators.
"What's happening?!" Shadow shouted, tears rolling down his face as Sonic's heart suddenly stopped.
"We need to clear out this room. Jacob handle that please." Dylan frowned, looking up to Zoe. "Apply shock."
As Zoe did as she was told, the black doctor, presumably Jacob, turned to the Mobians in the room.
"Listen, we're gonna do everything we can to save Sonic, but we need space to work." He told them. "Could you all please go wait in the lobby?"
"I'm not leaving him!" Shadow hissed.
Amongst the chaos, Casew was barking her head off, whimpering and whining, knowing it wasn't any use. Dogs just have these kind of sixth sense.
"Ok, first shock didn't work, charge to 150, and get that damn dog outta here!" Dylan shouted.
"Come on, Shadow." Silver gently urged the ebony hedgehog. "We have to let the doctors work, and you're the only one who can get Casew to calm down. We have to go."
Shadow knew Silver was right, but he really didn't want to leave. He was so afraid that if he left, Sonic would think he abandoned him.
"Shadow, come on." Knuckles urged. "There's nothing we can do for him here."
Shadow sighed and slowly nodded his head, closing his eyes in sadness.
"You're right." He sighed. "He's in the hands of Chaos now."
…
What seemed to be like 1 hour later, Shadow watched from his seat next to Rouge as the doctors came out of the room. Shadow nervously played with his IV tube and his leg shook as he petted Casew's head in a attempt to calm himself as he watched the three doctors argue amongst themselves.
"I wonder what's happening." Tails wondered aloud as he watched the doctors too.
Oh please be ok, Sonic. Shadow silently pleaded.
At last, the doctors stopped arguing once Dylan threw his hands up and walked off, closely being followed by Zoe. That left Jacob alone as he sighed and started walking over to the Mobians. As he approached, Shadow immediately stood up, unable to handle the suspense any longer.
"How is he, doc?" He quickly asked. "Is he ok?"
Jacob looked from Shadow and to his friends, and back again. All were waiting for him to tell them the verdict of Sonic's condition. Eventually, he finally sighed and lowered his head.
"I'm very sorry." He said solemnly. "But we couldn't save him. Time of death… 7:43 pm."
It was like Shadow's whole world came crashing down on top of him, and all he could see afterwards was darkness. A cold, lonely darkness.
He couldn't believe it.
After everything they went through together this past 3 weeks… Sonic was dead.
… He failed.
With a last sorrowful moan, Shadow fell to the ground on his knees and cried, once again allowing the dam to break. He cried and he sobbed, ignoring the comforts of his friends.
Sonic was dead… and it was all his fault.
A/N: Wait! *ducks to dodge a volley of bricks* Well, you already threw the bricks but let me just tell you that there is a HUGE reason behind all this. First of all, I really had no intentions of killing Sonic, but my friend who I usually let read these chapters before I post kept telling me I should kill him, and then I got thinking to an idea. So, put those bricks down, because the next chapter will explain everything. There are only 2 chapters left, so I hope you're ready.